[9] The South Asian samosa is believed to be derived from a medieval precursor from the Middle East[10][11] that was baked and not deep fried.

Recipes are found in 10th–13th-century arab cookery books, under the names sanbusak, sanbusaq, and sanbusaj, all deriving from the Persian word sanbosag.

[13] Amir Khusro (1253–1325), a scholar and the royal poet of the Delhi Sultanate, wrote around 1300 CE that the princes and nobles enjoyed the "samosa prepared from meat, ghee, onion, and so on".

[14] Ibn Battuta, a 14th-century traveler and explorer, describes a meal at the court of Muhammad bin Tughluq, where the samushak or sambusak, a small pie stuffed with minced meat, almonds, pistachios, walnuts and spices, was served before the third course of pulao.

[15] Nimatnama-i-Nasiruddin-Shahi, a medieval Indian cookbook started for Ghiyath Shah, the ruler of the Malwa Sultanate in central India, mentions the art of making samosa.

They are a bit smaller than in other parts of India, with a filling consisting chiefly of cooked diced potato, peanuts, and sometimes raisins.

There are also sweet versions, such as coconut singara, as well as others filled with khoya and dipped in sugar syrup that are known as Mishti Shingara.

The filling also differs, typically featuring mashed potatoes with spices, fried onions, peas, carrots, cabbage, curry leaves, and green chilis, and is mostly eaten without chutney.

Samosas in South India are made in different sizes, whose fillings are influenced by local food habits, and may include meat.

In general, most samosa varieties sold in the southern Sindh province and in the eastern Punjab, especially the city of Lahore, are spicier and mostly contain vegetable or potato-based fillings.

The samsa is a savoury pastry in Central Asian cuisines, consisting of a bun stuffed with meat and sometimes vegetables.

Samosas are also a key part of East African food often seen in Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Rwanda.

Samosas, locally called samoussas, are a popular snack on Réunion and Mauritius as both islands have faced large waves of labor immigration from the Indian subcontinent.

Samosas are also a staple of local cuisine in the fellow Horn of Africa countries of Djibouti and Ethiopia, where they are known as sambuuse.

Sambousek (Arabic: سمبوسك) are usually filled with either meat, onion, pine nuts, za’atar, spinach dock, or cheese.

However, traditionally it used to be made in the form of qottab filled with ground nuts (usually, walnuts), sugar, fragrant herbs or spices, and likewise fried in oil.

Nowadays, Iranian Sambuseh is often made with a sausage and pizza cheese based filling; however, a vegetable-based variety also exists.

Sephardi sambusak is generally thicker, baked, and stuffed with either cheese or beef and coated with sesame or nigella seeds.

Mizrahi sambusak is generally thinner, larger, fried, and stuffed with curry-spiced chickpea and onion, and is usually not coated with seeds.

Al-Shabaab, the extremist group controlling parts of Somalia, banned samosas in 2011 over concerns about the possible use of rotten meat in the filling.